WAT- Human Settlements Trust
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Information Background

Bandari Housing Cooperative Ltd is a society in Temeke Municipality. It was registered in 8st September 1999 under registrar of Cooperative Act section 15 of 1991.

The idea of forming the Bandari Housing Cooperative was conceived after the Women Advancement Trust sensitized a group of Tanzania Harbours Employees through a meeting held on 22nd March 1996 on the importance of everybody having shelter. In that meeting WAT encouraged THA to form their own housing cooperative as means to realise that goal. WAT on its part would offer training and technical support especially on low cost housing. Sixteen employees registered as founders of the cooperative. Seven of these were women and the rest were men.
 

Members
To date 82 members have register for the cooperative. Twenty six (26) are women and fifty six (56) are men. In principal membership is open to any employee of THA provided one fulfills the conditions laid down by the society’s bylaws.
Contributions:

• Membership entry fees sh. 1000/=
• 5 Shares of sh. 10,000/= each
• monthly savings of sh. 3000/= per member

Achievements
 The Bandari Housing Cooperative have achieved the following thus far:

• Registered their society under Registrar of Co-operatives Act section 15 of 1991
• Established savings scheme for housing
• Purchased 5.5 acres land from their own savings at Chamazi area (about 20 km from the city centre, southern part of Dar es Salaam)
• Participated in several seminars/workshops organised by WAT for capacity building
• Conducted regular meetings with other groups established by WAT to discuss and exchange information.
• Participated in exchange visit to Housing projects organised by WAT (Arusha and Korogwe)
• Contacted surveyor in Temeke Municipal Director for land survey costs estimates at their site in Chamazi – Temeke
• The group joined WAT-SACCOS where they can save slowly and thereafter borrow for various activities.
• They have their own bank account.

 Support from WAT
There are also several activities which have been performed by WAT in order to facilitate the implementation of the housing project including:

• Mobilized the group and sensitized them about acquiring adequate and decent shelter through housing cooperatives movement
• Empowering the group members through training and education
• Assisting the group in the process of registration
• Assisting the group to formulate their plan of action
• Encouraging the group to establish a savings scheme for housing
• Facilitating the exchange visits to the housing projects in the country (learning what others are doing)
• Assisting the group to  establish the cost for conducting complete survey on their site
• Preparation of a sketch house plan through Strategic Planning workshops.
• Assisting the group to establish cost estimates on a simple house plan in collaboration with Building Research Unit

All these activities have been performed by WAT as a way to support the group to achieve its objective/goal.

 Background Information

Magohe housing coop has been established by members who are currently living in Kigogo neighbourhood. The area is characterized by poor housing condition, poor sanitation, lack of drainage, poor roads and inadequate water supply.

All these members are tenants, and rent charge goes up every year without any satisfactory maintenance. The Coop decided to pull their meagre savings to purchase a piece of land at Magohe Mpiji where they can develop their own houses. They applied plots through government channel but they couldn’t get any, because the process is very long, hard, cumbersome, and bureaucracy. Therefore they opted to purchase a piece of land and they will seek for land tenure from the government and build their own houses.

Magohe housing Cooperative is a society in Kinondoni Municipality, located about 9 km off Morogoro Rd. from Mbezi Louis petrol station. It was registered in 31st March 1999 under registrar of Cooperative Act section 15 of 1991.

The major goal of the society is to mobilize their own resources to build affordable shelter.

 Membership
 The society consist of 17 members  with Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer. The society meet according to their constitution.

 Achievement
 Magohe Housing Cooperative has so far achieved the following:

• Registered their own society under Registrar of Cooperatives
• Established savings scheme for housing
• Purchased 5 acres land through their own savings
• Participated in training workshop on production of bricks
• Participated in several seminars/workshops organized by WAT
• Regular meetings with other groups established by WAT to discuss and exchange information with others.
• Participated in the exchange visit organized by WAT
• Contacted Surveyor in Kinondoni Municipal for survey costs at Magohe site.
• Joined WAT-SACCOS and now saving monthly
• Secured WAT-SACCOS loan for surveying their site in Magohe

 Support from WAT
On the other hand there are several activities which have been performed by WAT in facilitating the implementation of the housing project:

• Conducting a research on women participation in human settlement activities at community level where the establishment of this group was an out put.
• Assisting the group in the process of registration
• Assisting the group to formulate their plan of action
• Encouraging the group to establish savings scheme for housing
• Encouraging the group to establish water committee and start contribution
• Assisting the group to meet Surveyor to establish cost for conducting complete survey on their site
• Preparation of a sketch house plan.

 Challenges:
Low  income and therefore unable to save regularly
Minimum support from the government

NALAMAKAZI HOUSING  GROUP

Background information:

Nala Makazi Cooperative was established in 1993. The formation of this group was the result of the research which was done at Changombe squatter area by Women Advancement Trust (WAT) in 1992 on “Women Participation on Human Settlement Activities at the Community level. The findings of this research realised that many inhabitants of the area both men and women have problems of housing and other social facilities like water, access roads, drainage proper sanitation etc. WAT mobilized people to form a group in order to acquire land for building their own housings.

Objectives:

The main objective of this project was to help the people from Changombe squatter settlement who are renters to establish a housing group and assist in acquiring land and build affordable houses in an organized community. After acquiring a block of land at Nkuhungu West neighbourhood (about 6 km from CBD) fifty founding members of phase I of the project were allocated plots on March 1996. Phase II of another 50 members were allocated plots on June 1997. Two plots for income generating projects have been acquired and members have been advised to suggest what kind of activities they wish to perform as a means of subsidizing their income.

Legal Framework:

 Nala Makzi Group is registered under Cooperative Act No. 15 of 1991. They have their own constitution. Their structure consists of Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer.

Social Economic Situation:

Education

According to the study done in 2003, revealed that majority of the members have primary education. 77% of the sample studied, the rest have secondary education

Employment

Majority of the members (about 88%) are not employed formally, they are involved in petty business, like vegetable vendors, charcoal, food vendors, tailoring etc. The remaining few (12%) are employed as teachers, nurses, office attendants, guards, office drivers etc.

Income

The group has an average of income of 70,000 (US$70) per month from various sources either formal or informal.

Achievements

Through WAT facilitation the group has achieved the following:

·        Prepared action plan through project strategic planning workshops

·        Acquired 100 surveyed plots at Nkuhungu West Block B, C, and J.

·        Assisted the group in preparing bylaws

·        Registration of the group under the cooperative Act.

·        Opened bank Account and continued savings

·        Acquired knowledge on different skill through workshops and seminars e.g. right and obligation to cooperative, housing development circle, soil cement bricks production, leadership…Establishment of water committee, water fund and account.

·        Negotiated with Local Authority (CDA) to offer a special permission to erect temporary houses at the back of the plot as initial stage of construction, where the member can stay before completion of the main house.

·        Assisted the group to write project-funding proposal and send to various donors.

·        Acquired loan of Tsh. 1.0m for water connection and construction of reserved tank of 23,400 litres.

·        Completion of loan repayment

·        Prepared simple house design which can be built in phases

·        Acquired building permit from Local Authority

·        The group benefited from exchange visits

·        Construction of the houses has started using alternative building material

·        The group managed to purchase 3 brick making machine

·        The group initiated a special savings through UPATU system (merry go round)

Constraints

·        It took sometime before the group could start building because of critical problem of water

·        The member’s income is low and irregular and therefore progress is slow.

·        Failure to pay for plot fees among the members

NB: Please note that information on the other housing coops is being prepared and will be published soon!